How an International MBA prepared an alumni for a career at Euronews

A graduate of the emlyon business school’s International MBA in 2019, Quentin Ankri, currently the Head of Project Management at Euronews, has forged a career spanning a wide range of positions, industries, and countries. He tells his professional story, and the impact that emlyon has made and continues to make in his professional life.

Q. How has your time at emlyon prepared you for your career at Euronews? The MBA that I received from emlyon provided me with a host of skills and a firm grasp of all aspects of business. However, in terms of my career, I have found it especially valuable in the news media industry where I currently work. Seismic changes in terms of audience requirements, data driven newsrooms, the rise of fake news, and the need to re-invent due to huge drops in traditional advertising revenues are taking place, and digital transformation and change management are essential to overhauling the way the media works. Given all the key takeaways I got from my International MBA, it is no coincidence that I find myself at Euronews as part of the Diversification & Business Development team. Here, I get to utilize the knowledge and experiences gained from my degree to work on developing new sources of revenues based on core assets such as brand, content and expertise. Q. What were the key takeaways from the program that you still apply today? My strongest memories are of theoretical learning, and the insight we were given into shifts in industries. Learning about how to meet the challenge of change management through the presentation of success stories also really resonated with me, providing great food for thought on how to approach other situations (especially now given the ever changing state of the media sector, this has proven invaluable). I already had 8 years of prior professional experience, but what the program managed to do was give sense and structure to what I had done before, strengthen my overall profile, and cultivate in me the ability to generate revenue in a period of flux. Q. Among your many roles today at emlyon is that of President of the MBA Club. What does the club seek to achieve? Take a look at our website at if you want to get the full picture but, in short, the aim is to run top-level events with a firm emphasis on getting the best out of an international business community. emlyon’s community is widespread and knowledgeable, and very in touch with the corporate world, so we manage to feature some real, high-level experts, many of whom are CEOs. Not so long ago, we had the CEO of Verizon Europe speak directly with the students. We also welcomed the CEO of Euronews, Michael Peters, who shared insights into the digital transformation of the media industry. The whole initiative of these notable speakers operates in parallel with the program, ensuring that all the know-how shared by the speakers is of direct relevance to the academic content that the students are working on. The fact that this is an optional program add-on also provides a guarantee that the participating students are there because they want to be, so there’s no doubting their level of motivation and interest! Q. It seems as though you loved your time at emlyon so much that you also give back to the school in a teaching capacity? Yes, along with my colleague and fellow alumni Clément Guillaume, we contribute in the form of teaching Media Management classes at the school. We are focusing a great deal on the digital revolution and the impact it is having on grasping users’ attention, both in terms of their content creation, user experience, pricing, and internationalization. The continued rise of platforms such as Netflix, HBO Max, Disney + and Amazon Prime come under the microscope as especially illustrative examples (and indeed success stories) of this revolution. Teaching is delivered in theoretical class and workshop formats, and forms a part of not only the International MBA, but also the school’s Programme Grande Ecole. Q. Finally, you are not only an alumnus of the school but also an emlyon Alumni Board member. What are you working on and with what objectives? My 4-year tenure began back in March of this year. There are currently 15 of us split into 8 different task forces examining how to maintain, nurture and nourish relations between the school and its alumni (this includes our great MBA alumni as well). Our main strategic objective is born out of the intrinsically international nature of a school like emlyon. To cut a long story short, how do you unite an alumni community so few members of which are still physically based in Lyon itself, due to the global opportunities provided by the school? We see this challenge as an opportunity, not an obstacle, and are working actively on ways to unite the alumni community further still. Quentin Ankri Back to the International MBA program page